SMFG Q1 net profit more than doubles as Japan stocks rally

Reuters Staff

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TOKYO, July 29 (Reuters) - Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc said on Monday that its net profit more than doubled in the April-June quarter, as a rally in Japanese stocks pushed up the value of the bank’s massive equity portfolio.

Japan’s third-biggest lender by assets said net profit came to 288.33 billion yen ($2.9 billion) for its fiscal first quarter, up from 117.84 billion yen a year earlier.

SMFG kept its full-year net profit forecast at 580 billion yen, down 27 percent from the previous year and below an average estimate of 626.5 billion yen in a poll of 17 analysts by Thomson Reuters.

Expectations for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic-growth policies have driven up Japanese stocks. The benchmark Nikkei average closed above 13,000 in June, compared with around 9,000 a year earlier. Japanese banks’ earnings are subject to market swings because of their large equity holdings. ($1 = 98.1300 Japanese yen) (Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Chris Gallagher)